COMET HALLEY IN 1910, AS VIEWED FROM A MALTESE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Comet Halley's return in 1910 was keenly anticipated globally by scientists and the lay public alike. Although cometary science had progressed rapidly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, superstition remained significant in different parts of the world and there were fears that people would die if the prediction that the Earth would pass through the comet's tail were correct. Malta was a small British island colony in the Mediterranean, and the inhabitants there were no exception. Local newspapers reported concerns from their readers and from foreign sources, but they also included reassuring scientific information about comets. Under the patronage of the colonial government a local amateur astronomer named Francis Reynolds reassured the public through lectures that he delivered. Overall the local population appeared to have been calm about the impending return. The first recorded sighting from Malta was on 24 April 1910 and the first naked eye sighting occurred the following day. Accounts were published in the local newspapers and in private correspondence, suggesting a high level of public interest in this object. No photographs of the comet from Malta have been traced, but the aforementioned Mr Reynolds and a well-known Maltese artist, G. Cali, did make a number of paintings. On the night when the Earth was due to pass through the comet's tail many local people congregated around the bastions of the city under an overcast sky in the early hours of the morning, but no untoward events were experienced.